Abbotsford athletes made their mark on the national stage at the Canada Summer Games, which wrapped up last week in Sherbrooke, Que.
The local contingent brought home a combined seven medals and registered a series of top-10 finishes at the Games, which bring together up-and-coming athletes from across the country. Prominent Canada Summer Games alumni include Steve Nash (basketball), Alexandre Despatie (diving), Bruny Surin (100-metre dash) and Adam Van Koeverden (kayaking).
• Chelsea Jenner won a gold medal with the B.C. women’s softball team, which turned in a truly dominant performance. The provincial squad thumped Manitoba 9-1 via the mercy rule in the title game, with left fielder Jenner going 1-for-4 with one run scored.
• Matt Dignan was golden on the wrestling mat, finishing atop the 54-kilogram men’s division. He added a silver medal with B.C. in the team competition, along with fellow Abbotsford grapplers Nishanpreet Randhawa and Rajin Gill.
• Tiffany Matteazzi took silver in the women’s javelin competition, registering a throw of 47.50m. Chelsea Whalen of Nova Scotia (48.83m) was the only athlete to exceed that distance.
• Krista Hogewoning, a member of the University of the Fraser Valley’s national championship-winning women’s volleyball squad, led Team B.C. to a silver medal at the Canada Games. Hogewoning paced B.C. with 16 kills in an epic five-set loss to Alberta in the title game.
• Abbotsford natives Kristof Schlagintweit (UBC Okanagan) and Tyler Koslowsky (Trinity Western) helped the B.C. men’s volleyball team to a bronze medal, knocking off Ontario in four sets to clinch the podium finish.
• Rosie Johanson and the B.C. tennis squad won silver in the team competition, and she made it as far as the quarter-finals in the women’s singles draw.
• Chris Voth turned in a strong fourth-place finish in the men’s 5,000m run in a time of 14:43.29, just five seconds behind the bronze medalist.
• Aisha Klippenstein was seventh in the women’s 100m hurdles (14.53), and added a fourth-place result in 4x100m relay.
• W.J. Mouat point guard Corey Hauck and the B.C. men’s basketball team finished ninth overall at the Games, beating Alberta 76-51 in their finale.